Number of Rats in New York City

"No one knows how many rats live in the city. Some citizens have lamented that there have to be at least eight or nine rats per person. A more common conclusion is one rat per human. City health officials say these are all guesses. "We don't do rat tail counts,"a Health Department spokeswoman said."

"New York's rat problem extends far beyond the halls of its public housing. Bill Perkins, chairman of the City Council's Select Committee on Pest Control, estimates that there are nine rats for every person in the city - a rat population of about 70 million."

"And in just one year, a single female rat can produce as many as 285 brand new rats who are up and running in a matter of weeks. Rats, according to conservative estimates, outnumber human New Yorkers about 6 to 1."

48 million

New York is large and occupied by many people. New York is also infested with
rats. No one knows the exact number of rats. Dr. Patrick Thomas, a curator of
mammals at the Bronx Zoo states that "They are an extraordinarily adaptable
and hardy breed."The population of rats will continue to increase if the
city does not do anything about the poor garbage disposal, increased construction
or the inefficient coordination of the city's response to this problem.

Why is the number of rats so large? In just a year, one female rat can produce
285 new born rats. After few weeks they are already roaming around the city. New
York City is trying to decrease (and possibly eliminate) this infestation. It
is imperative to address this problem because the rats are already outnumbering
the number of people and is increasing year by year. Not only will they be overrunning
the city, but it is critical for the safety of the people. They can carry bacterial
diseases such as salmonella and many people report of rat bites. These rats are
susceptible and able to carry disease. The city, in 1997, had a budget of 8 million
dollars to spend on exterminators, toxic pesticides etc. By the year 2000, this
budget increased to 13 million dollars.

Today, year 2002, it is estimated that for every person there are twelve rats.
Considering that there are 8 million people, there are 96 million rats in the
city of New York.

Jane Min -- 2002

Bibliographic Entry

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Robert Sullivan. Late Show with David Letterman. CBS. 14 May 2004 (11:35 PM EDT).

Letterman: [H]ow many of them do you believe are in New York City now?